In the past several years, industry, government and the public have shown renewed interest in returnable containers, like cans and bottles. Such interest arises largely from increasing concerns for ecology, energy efficiency, and economy. Many ecologists advocate a requirement that all containers be returnable because of the ecologists, belief that redeemable containers are less likely to be discarded as litter. In addition, with advanced technology, it now takes less energy to recycle certain materials from old containers than it does to use raw materials. Recycled materials have also become more economical than certain raw materials because of the rapidly increasing costs of mining.
The most common mechanism for inducing consumers to return beverage containers is an economic reward for such return. This reward is typically either a deposit refunded to the consumers when empty containers are returned, or else money paid to consumers who return empty containers. Many states have taken legislative action to require a deposit to induce return of empty containers. These states, known as "mandatory deposit" states, generally require the container distributors or vendors to charge retailers a certain amount per container and require the retailers in turn to charge their customers a deposit, usually a nickel or a dime, for each container sold. When the consumers in the mandatory deposit states return the empty containers, the retailers must refund the deposit. Each distributor or vendor in the mandatory deposit states must then collect from the retailer all the returned containers having that distributor's brands and must pay back to the retailers the deposits plus handling fees. Such handling fees generally range from one to two cents per container.
Although simple at face value, the laws in mandatory deposit states present substantial practical problems for retailers and distributors. Since the distributors are required to collect only their own brands from retailers, the retailers must first sort all the returned beverage containers manually and then store the sorted containers for pickup by the appropriate distributor. This system causes retailers manpower problems due to sorting, and space and sanitation problems due to the storage of the containers.
A further problem which retailers face in mandatory deposit states is delay in receiving reimbursement from distributors. After returning the deposits to their customers, retailers must wait until the distributors collect the containers and their accounting staffs process the collection paperwork to get the money back for those deposits. Seldom do the one to two cents per container handling fees compensate for this delay or for the retailers' other costs.
Distributors also have major problems in mandatory deposit states. They must commit additional facilities, manpower and trucks to handle the return and disposition of the empty containers, and they must coordinate their full goods operations with the handling of empties. The distributors also have large problems with accounting and container count verification, as do retailers.
In "voluntary deposit" states, where the retailer is not required to take back empty beverage containers, problems also exist. Recycling in these states is driven by the desire of container producers, as well as by heavy users of container materials made of aluminum and glass, to recover and recycle the materials in those containers. Unlike mandatory deposit states, most programs involved in voluntary deposit states take place in coordination with these container producers. The accounting problems, however, are still significant for the sellers of beverages in returnable containers.
The recovery of used aluminum for its scrap value is an established industry and the recovery and reuse of glass is gaining popularity. Traditional methods of aluminum recovery generally involve collection and delivery of recovered metal to scrap yards. As aluminum's value increases and as Bauxite, which is the ore from which aluminum is smelted, becomes more expensive to import, many manufacturers of aluminum containers have developed more concentrated recycling efforts. Such efforts, however, are generally manual.
Certain companies have, in response to these problems, developed reverse vending machines. One type of reverse vending machine called a bulk feed machine, is placed in a shopping center parking lot. Generally, bulk feed machines only determine whether returned cans are non-ferrous, and if so, the machines pay according to weight. Such machines are used in voluntary deposit states.
Another type of reverse vending machine is a single feed device which is typically placed inside stores. Single feed devices typically reimburse consumers for return of the proper type of containers (i.e., aluminum cans). These devices usually do not attempt to perform any accounting beyond the counting of the total number of containers processed.
While reverse vending machines offer some improvement over purely manual methods of container redemption, the accounting and storage problems described above still remain. In addition, the sorting, space and sanitation problems of the retailers remain, as well as the problems of the distributors in transporting and handling empties.
It is desirable in the present invention to alleviate, or greatly reduce, the problems associated with the accounting, manpower and storage problems that distributors and retailers currently have in redeeming returnable containers. It is further desirable in the present invention to alleviate, or greatly reduce, the transportation and handling costs of empty containers. It is yet a further desirable characteristic of the present invention to facilitate the collection of the required accounting data into an easily retrievable form.